Another cold night from Reds bats turns Pete Rose tribute into afterthought

On a night that would've made The Hit King shudder, the Cincinnati Reds fell to the Chicago White Sox by a final of 4-2 during an evening that was supposed to be a celebration of Pete Rose. Instead, the Reds' bats went silent (again) and Cincinnati dropped the series to one of the worst teams in Major League Baseball.

Sadly, no one seems to have any answers. The Reds' pitching staff was good enough — though Nick Lodolo's final pitch of the night yielded a solo home run — but the Reds were unable to score any runs until Spencer Steer finally mashed a homer to left center field in the bottom of the seventh inning to make the score 4-1.

Austin Hays' RBI double in the bottom of the eighth inning scored Elly De La Cruz from second base, but that was all the offense that Cincinnati was able to muster. The Reds were 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position, and fan frustration has turned to apathy.

Another cold night from Reds bats turns Pete Rose tribute into afterthought

The Reds will get one last shot to right the ship before the Sox leave town. Cincinnati and Chicago play Thursday afternoon with right-hander Nick Martinez taking the hill for the Reds. Martinez's last start was not a good one. He allowed three runs on 10 hits to the Houston Astros, a game that Cincinnati lost without scoring a run.

Following Wednesday's loss, the Reds have now dropped series to the White Sox, Miami Marlins, and Washington Nationals. None of those organizations are above .500 this season and all three are considered to be in the midst of rebuilding. If things don't change, and quickly, that's exactly the same situation the Reds will find themselves in.

It's impossible to blame the Reds' pitching staff for the team's latest woes. Among all National League clubs, the Reds are second in WHIP (1.17) and hits allowed (328), fourth in ERA (3.75) and walks (137), and sixth in strikeouts (374). The Reds' batters, however, rank second in strikeouts (398), seventh in home runs (44) and RBI (194), eighth in runs scored (201) and on-base percentage, ninth in OPS, 11th in slugging, and 12th in batting average.

The Reds fanbase was excited after the team hired Terry Francona to be the manager, but the excitement has worn off and the Cincinnati faithful are just looking for wins. If a packed house at Great American Ball Park on a Wednesday night wasn't enough to get the Reds' bats untracked, what's it going to take?

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